Computational resources available for use by various end users of computing systems has increased significantly. This increase in capability of systems has created the ability for many more end users to utilize computer based image systems to replace processes that utilize paper and physical model processes. In the past, computer aided design, drafting, and manufacture (CAD/CAM) tools represented an area of applications in which computer based image systems have migrated from paper and model based processes to electronic systems.
These CAD/CAM system typically consist of design and drafting tools that allow technical designers to build systems that were previously designed on paper using draftsmen. Over time, the computing system and their respective tools have allowed increasing interactive manipulation of components during the design process. This advance in design of items that are then manufactured has occurred using these computer aided systems.
These CAD/CAM systems, however, typically start their processes with a set of predefined libraries of components that may be used by the user of the computing system. For example, electronic schematics possess a library of components that are used to specify a circuit and its layout. The creation of these libraries, as well as the amount of computational resources needed to perform the operations related to these systems, has prevented the widespread use of these systems in other areas of technology.
With the advances recently made computational systems, these computer based image systems may be used to permit end users to replace paper and physical models with electronic images. Two areas of technology present additional obstacles to the more wide-spread use of these systems. First, a mechanism to capture image representations of physical objects accurately and with sufficient resolution is needed in a form that is both inexpensive to operate while providing rapid turn-around for users. Second, a mechanism to visually display interaction between parts of an object is needed. This problem is especially acute when impressions of human teeth are to be scanned to allow electronic images of the models of a patient's teeth to be represented and manipulated as individual teeth. Neither of these latter obstacles have been overcome in existing imaging systems.